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Blizzard Seeks to Block User Rights, Privacy
An anonymous reader writes "In the overlooked case between Blizzard and MDY Industries, the creator of the WoWGlider bot, Blizzard is arguing that using any programs in conjunction with the World of Warcraft constitutes copyright violation. Apparently accessing the copy of the game client in RAM using another program infringes upon their rights. Under that logic, users do not even have the right to use anti-virus software in the event that the game becomes infected. Furthermore, Blizzard's legal filings downplay the role of their Warden software, which actively scans users' RAM, CPU, and storage devices (and potentially sensitive data) and sends information back to Blizzard to be processed."
As always, they're arguing that using another program or set of programs to circumvent the code that Blizz uses to try and stop people from using bots and other hacks violates the DMCA...And it's hard to see how they're wrong in that. The anti-virus argument is an over broad generalization; I don't know of any case where a virus actually modifies WoW binaries.
Agree with the DMCA or not, this is a "valid" use of it.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
I'd say that's a false dichotomy. You don't have to side with cheaters in order to oppose expansion of copyright.
There are other legal remedies for dealing with WOWGlider, including tortious contract interference for soliciting people to violate the game's TOS, which results both in lost revenue from banned players as well as lost revenue from players who quit out of disgust with rampant cheating. While the monetary damages from this may not be easily calculable, the real intent would be to get an injunction against the WOWGlider developers to force them to stop distributing the software. Then the developers are staring down the barrel of a contempt charge if they keep doing it.
damn straight!
I have no issue with someone cheating/moding the heck out of a single player game - the only person it affects is the player. Once you go online though - your cheating affects me and everyone else playing online, and therefor i am completely against it.
anyway i wish i had some mod points - mod parent post UP!
How long before the individual owns nothing, though everything is owned? How long before it is a legal fact that all "ownership" (even of the very air we breathe) is exercised by corporations rather than individuals or publics?
The way things are going, we will soon see legal battles between all kinds of financial interests:
"We own that story, he wrote it using our software."
"But he was using our hardware."
"Yes, but he was sitting on our chair."
"Ah, but he was sitting inside our building."
"True, but he had eaten our food that morning."
"Yes, and he was working beneath our light bulb."
"Ahhhhh, but he was breathing our air..."
Judge: "Divide the profits from its sale evenly amongst yourselves."
Writer: "But what about me? I don't even want it sold. I wrote it and I should get to control it..."
All: "Bwahahaha, you fool! Do you think you would be anything if it weren't for us? Everything you do is the result of what we have given you!"
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
If Blizzard does not want people using bots/mods, then they should put it in the EULA, and if anyone violates that, handle is accordingly. I don't see how this is in any way copyright infringement.
A good friend of mine is "addicted" to this game. He has been playing for over a year now, and has leveled up 2 characters to level 70. So he wants to make a third character, but he doesn't want to play through all the lower missions. So he uses a bot, to gather some experience. If it wasnt for the bot, he probably wouldn't be playing anymore.
If he was to be charged with this "crime", his defence would be
"Yo...wtf?"
"The defense rests"
And any real judge would say "Good point, Case dismissed"
Instead of playing, he watches his bot play...is he paying them? yes. is he interfering with other peoples play? no., so wtf?
Blizzard should stfu, and be happy they are getting his money every month. WoW is a cash cow, and they are just trying to milk it to the Max...those bastards...
-EL
No, they can't bot with a trial account; with a trial account you can't level above 20, and you can't trade any items or gold from it in any way.
They do spam using whispers with trial accounts, advertising the goldselling sites (WTB [Auto-Ignore Whispers From Trial Accounts Option] which would neatly solve that one), but they never bot with them. They actually have to pay for their accounts.
However, since it costs around $30 for an account, and that's the market price of about 1000 gold, the botting probably very rapidly pays for itself while the bot levels up - after which it's all gravy. Until Blizzard tracks them, figures out where the gold's being sent, and bans the goldbank accounts (which hurt far more than the bots).
Given that it's a tool specifically created to violate the EULA and terms of service of another service, I'd rather like WoWGlider to be taken down. I'd like to be on Blizzard's side, but this could set bad precedent for offline games and a whole bunch of other things like debuggers, so I can't. They should've gone with tortious contract interference, I reckon they'd have a clearer case. The DMCA doesn't really apply, as it's not really an access-control method protecting a copyrighted work that's being circumvented.
Until then, it's incredibly obvious who's botting. The little chicken-walk they to do back up, the fact that they run in circles, the turning on the spot towards the next mob, absolutely scream "glider". If they don't ban right away, it's probably because they're trying to follow the money.
I have a hard time seeing a judge thinking about things this deeply, meaning (a) he'll say, "you're full of crap. no dice.", or (b) he'll say, "wow, you're right. no program may read another program's data, whether on the harddrive, or in memory, because that implicitly involves some level of copying of information, and we must protect copyright."
Based on past events, I dread the result.
"The drug test is conducted before the event and only once."
No. Many sports test before and after the event (boxing for example) and while I'm not intimately familiar with the Tour de France, I recall hearing that tests are conducted throughout the event, sometimes testing the same person multiple times.
"They don't require the athlete to reveal the detail of their bank accounts..."
Neither does Blizzard. You choose to do that as one of the conditions to play the game.
While browsing some game reviews I found a link to this. When I read it, I found it pretty shocking, basically the guy was banned because he was pressing a macro on his keyboard with his fingers while watching TV.
:)
...
I have no idea if this is true but at that time I was pretty sad for the guy. On the other hand, he lost the WoW addiction.
The most funny part is that he could have avoided the ban if he didn't say he was watching TV while pressing the keys of his G15
Don't you know it is now both immoral and criminal to think beyond the next quarterly report?
Well, although it may be your right to manipulate your own RAM however you see fit, don't forget that if you manipulate the game to show a nipple or sexually suggestive positions, it is your parent's/crusader group's right to sue Blizzard for everything they're worth. Faced with the fact that Blizzard will be held liable for everything everyone else does to their game, what choice do they have but to pursue any messed up agressive ways of getting you to stop?
One can only reasonably assume that using such software would be your right. However, one would also reasonably assume that you are responsible for any modifications you make to game. I'm just saying that legal responsibilities surrounding software and computers are really fucked up. If I was a game manufacturer, I'd be scared to death of modders now that I've found out that the company can be liable for what they do. Thank you lawyers, crusaders, and politicians!
Also, you can at least say they are taking a pro-active, even if they overstepped here, approach to cheating. Cheaters wreck the game for everyone.
I have to agree.
In the US, consumers are turning into slaves. I have gotten to the point, that anytime I see the word consumer, I
automagially read it as the word slave. It seems that the consumer instructions make more sense that way.
I bought a bag of grass seed the other day and it had a EULA on the stiching to the seed. The eula stated
"NOTICE TO CONSUMER" By opening this seed product you waive your rights to a jury trial and agree to arbitation
at the consumers expense in these states and areas...
1. We do not own real estate anymore. Ownership of land is the basis of freedom. IF anyone/corporation can prove that they
can provide more revenue then they can get the land.
2. One can not live life without credit. Try doing it and maintain an upper middle class life style. Even those who have money still
needs to have credit to have affordable insurance, and to use certain services. Credit is required to do almost everything.
3. One can not do anything without permission or being required to explain their selfs to the authorities. This is getting worse every day.
Yes, I know that a bunch of you out there will not agree with this, but I am willing to bet that those who do not agree are under the age
of 25 and have not establised a career/home yet.
Credit is now required for existence in our society. Go watch Brazil (the dark version) and get an idea where we are heading.
Actually given the money he's made, I'd say the game is more fun to play with the bot's help.
Really I think he's in the clear on this but like another poster I dread the case law that may result.
On a separate note, if I build a programmable keyboard that has the ability to macro complex keystrokes would that be an issue?
How bout if I could macro the mouse as well?
What if I also incorporated a capture device and pointed a video camera at the monitor, thus building an artificial player? (no process running on the machine with the game, all external). While this really is only a thought experiment, where is the line drawn?
-nB
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
Just because you don't like cheating doesnt mean the creators of cheat software can be slapped with lawsuits based on 'copyright infringement'. If I buy a book, read it, then scribble a part out and rewrite it, can I be sued for copyright infringement?
This isn't good vs. evil or a question of "is cheating ok?", this is just another company abusing copyright law to get their way.
I think the [MS Word] paperclip is a great idea. - Miguel de Icaza
Using a bot for a game is a bit like buying a second chess computer to play chess against your already existing chess computer. Why bother playing at all if you use a program to play a game?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Changing your cookbook doesn't cause others to stop cooking. Cheating gets other customers frustrated, so they stop playing.
WoWGlider has been specifically developed by interpretting the data in WoW. Antivirus software looks for specific byte patterns, but does not try to interpret the various fields in WoW or any other file.
Warden (as far as I know) simply makes hashes of byte codes in the various running applications. The hashes get sent back to Blizzard. It doesn't search for the SSN field in your tax software files.
Use of software that changes your character or gives you privileged information is cheating in my opinion.
Use of a program that simply runs your character as if you were sitting at the keyboard? I'm not so sure of that. As long as you didn't run it 24x365.2425, I'm not sure Blizzard should complain. People don't want to waste their time doing everything over again, or just don't have the time to spend to get to level 70. That's why I quit. I'd probably still be a paying customer if I could use a "human simulator" program.
But, Blizzard has figured a monthly rate based on expected customer usage. They expect customers to be playing less than 24 hours a day. If everybody played 24 hours/day, Blizzard would have to raise the monthly fee.
you obviously have no idea how many adults play wow. this may be the root of the issue, actually, as the adults get bored with the "oh, i only need to kill 2,728 more of these before i level again" grinding (this is not exaggeration, and is actually a lowball figure). with this in mind, i can understand the mentality of a botter. it's against ToS and the EULA, and i would never do it, but i can understand.
then again, you could argue that if you're bored, you should find something else to do. if your entertainment dollar is not entertaining you, take your dollar somewhere else. if you got bored at a strip club, and started beating people up, what would your life expectancy be? if you got bored at the video arcade and started walking around kicking people in the shins, how long would you anticipate being allowed on the premises? if you got bored while driving and started speeding, would you be surprised when you got a ticket?
botting is cheating. this is not in doubt. this is not a gray area.
but this is also not the issue at hand. the issue at hand is that blizzard wants to make it illegal for software to look at other software running on the same machine. the base absurdity of this is quite simple, really. if they succeed, they should immediately be hit by a class-action suit for their warden software for the exact same things they are accusing wowglider of doing. if MY software can't read YOUR software's memory space, then what is YOUR software doing looking at MY software?!
they must get that hash somewhere...
completely aside, i find that wow is the best entertainment value for my dollar. my wife and i play together instead of going to movies. $30(15/month*2 people) instead of $25 per 2-hour movie. combine the cost savings of playing wow vs. watching only 2 movies per month, and then count up the 4 hours of movie for $50 vs the staggering average of 160 hours per month that we play WoW.
each.
They do spam using whispers with trial accounts, advertising the goldselling sites (WTB [Auto-Ignore Whispers From Trial Accounts Option] which would neatly solve that one)
Try UI addon called Spam Sentry for that. It'll block the messages automagically and record them. You can then instruct it to fill out and send a GM request with the relevant information to report the spammer. It'll also let you manually report botters.
The creators of the first non-IBM PC BIOS had one team decompiling/inspecting/reverse engineering the code and writing up documents describing how it worked.
Almost right. Decompiling wasn't necessary as the full x86 assembly source code for the BIOS was listed in the technical reference manual that was available to anyone for quite some time, and the comments were very complete so there wasn't any real work needed to figure out how it worked - it was just a matter of the Phoenix team writing up a functional spec that someone else would write code to.
We're in total agreement that Blizzard is completely overstepping their bounds, and WoWGlider wouldn't even exist if there was actually more real gameplay in WoW instead of having to rely so much on mindless grinding for character progression. Interestingly, as I read the EULA it's a violation for me to use my Logitech G11 keyboard, as it effectively gives me an additional 54 keys and provides the ability to generate single-key macros far beyond what the native WoW interface provides, thus allowing me to "...MODIFY OR HACK THE GAME INTERFACE, ENVIRONMENT, AND/OR EXPERIENCE IN ANY WAY NOT EXPRESSLY AUTHORIZED BY BLIZZARD..." (yes, they use caps there). It also seems that it'd be against the EULA for me to have Wireshark/Ethereal up when I was playing (I occasionally play a bit during the wait for code to compile), as that allows me to "...intercept, emulate or redirect the communication protocols used by Blizzard in any way, including without limitation through protocol emulation, tunneling, packet sniffing, modifying or adding components to the Game, use of a utility program or any other techniques now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose..."
Blizzard needs to understand that the machines WoW runs on, *don't* belong to them.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
I am at a point in my WoW playing where I would welcome a ban with open arms.